Rise of a Fallen Angel
by Bards of Bedlam
Summary: Rei and Kira want to adopt a little girl from an orphanage. Emily has been through a lot in her short life, and she has no friends and nothing to care about. But it may turn out that Kira and Rei are just what she needed…. EDITED AND REPOSTED.
1. Decision

Okay, first let me say that the story before this one was _horrible_. It wasn't one of my better efforts. That being what it is, and therefore unchangeable, let us put said story behind us and open up a new chapter in the lives of Rei and Kira Kashino.

**Chapter 1—Decision**

"Are you sure you want to go today?" Rei asked, peering at his wife with a worried look on his face.

Kira smiled at him. "I'm positive. I have to go to this opening, you know that. Besides, I've been back to work for a while now, and I've been fine. I'll be fine today."

"But you'll be on your feet all day today," Rei pointed out. "Usually you're sitting down most of the time."

"I know, but I _have_ to be at the opening of this gallery. I funded the building of the place and I had to work _really_ hard to get the stupid Americans to let me open up shop over there. And plus, I've never been overseas for my work before! I _really _want to go this time! So don't spoil it for me by getting all worried!"

"Do you at least want me to drive you to the airport?"

Kira shushed him and placed her arms around his neck, leaning up to kiss him. "I'm getting a ride with Rumi. She's out that way to meet with a department store about her designs. I'll be_ fine_. Stop _worrying_!"

Rei smiled down at her. "Okay. But if your knee starts hurting, go sit down somewhere. I mean it!"

"Right, right. I'll see you when I get back. Remember, my plane lands at the airport at three on Saturday afternoon." As she spoke, she shouldered a backpack and grabbed her suitcase from the kitchen floor. "I need you to come pick me up because Rumi and Tatsuya are leaving for vacation on Friday. I'll only be gone for a week and there's plenty of food in the fridge, but if you run out you can always order takeout. And please don't burn down our apartment building trying to cook—you just aren't cut out to be a chef so stick to simple stuff like soup and sandwiches, okay? That's nice and safe. Now eat your breakfast and I'll call you when I get settled at the hotel."

"What about you? When are you gonna eat?"

"On the run." And with that, Kira grabbed a stack of pancakes, kissed Rei on the cheek, and took a bite as she hurried out the door.

Rei shook his head slightly and smiled, watching from the window as Kira threw her suitcase into the back of Harumi's car and got in on the passenger side.

Since her car accident, Kira had made immense strides in her recovery. Her knee had, apparently, seen it's last surgery, at least until she was at ripe old age, and she was back to normal, with the exception of the way she limped slightly on her previously injured leg. However, driving had been a real problem. The first time she tried to get behind the wheel of a car after the accident, she'd frozen up and hadn't been able to move until Rei pulled her out of the vehicle. Eventually, though, she had gotten over her "phobia" and was behaving perfectly normally again. Well, as normal as the wife of Rei Kashino would ever get.

Still smiling, Rei finished every piece of food on the table, drank two glasses of milk, and then headed to the track.

This, he knew, would be a long week.

Six days later…

Rei sat at the kitchen table, eating a sandwich and reading the newspaper, when the phone rang. "Talk to me."

"Rei?"

"Oh, hey, Kira." He blinked and squinted at the clock. "What's up? Isn't it kind of late over there?"

"Yeah, but I had to talk to you _now_."

Rei was, of course, immediately on edge and at attention. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I just needed to talk to you. Now, before you say anything, let me get it all out. You know how we've been wanting to adopt a kid, right?"

"…"

"Right. Well, I met someone at the opening of the exhibit, and she runs a small orphanage just outside the city, and she wanted me to visit them because she said I seemed like a 'nice person', though only God knows how I could be married to you for almost twelve years and still be what other people call 'nice', but that's besides the point. Okay, so, I went in there, but the thought of actually taking a kid home never crossed my mind until—"

"Until…what? Kira…you didn't…"

"No, I haven't actually adopted anyone _yet_, and let me finish. Okay, so, I was in the orphanage, and I was just about to leave when I came across the room where all the kids slept, and it was empty except for one person."

"And that person was….?"

"A girl, about twelve. She was pretty, _really_ pretty, but she looked….not sad, exactly, just….serious. When I went in, she looked up and gave me this _look_, like she was looking right through me, trying to find out everything there is to know about me, but she didn't say anything, so I left. She was…kind of scary, she was so…intense. Well, I asked the woman who runs the place and all she said was that the girl's name was Emily, that she was half-Japanese but goes by her American name, and that they've been having problems with that girl ever since she came to the orphanage, but she didn't say what kind of problems. Well, after I got back to the hotel it occurred to me that maybe all Emily really needs is…a home."

"Kira, you're not saying…?"

"Yes I am. We've been talking about adoption so much lately and we could do _so much_ for this girl. I can feel it. There's something about her…it feels…_right_."

"But…okay, look, Kira, I haven't even met this girl. And even if I had, adoption…."

"Is a big decision and an even bigger responsibility, I _know_, but look, we have more than enough money to support her, we can pay for her school and everything, and she needs someone to reach out to her. You and I are pretty good at reaching out to people, so why not give it a shot? And….you'd make an amazing father, I think."

"Kira—"

"Look, Rei, the fact is, _I want a family_. Since the miscarriage, I've wondered what it would be like having someone to look out for, someone to raise and take care of and love. I want that. And we _can_ do it. Please, just fly out here and meet her, and we can talk about it. Please?"

"Fly out there?"

"Mmm-hmm. Look, I've thought about this for _five days_ and done nothing _but_ think about it. After the opening of the exhibit I called the guys who ran it every day and told them I was sick and to call if there was a problem, and then I walked around the house and researched adoption and thought about adoption and talked to people who've adopted kids and talked to the woman at the orphanage and got all the information about the adoption process and _it feels right_. Please, just come out here."

"…"

"Please?"

"…All right. I'll catch the early morning flight."


	2. Qualified

Okay, guys, here's the second chapter. I've sworn to myself that 1) this story will be better and/or longer than the other one and 2) that I won't quit in the middle. But it might take me a while to get chapters out, because I don't write many MARS fics. Also, I work on inspirations rather than deadlines, and sometimes inspiration is very….elusive. But just be patient, and the story _will_ go on. That goes for all of my fics. Okay?

Oh, and by the way, I don't know anything about adoption. I've never been through the process myself, as the person being adopted _or_ as the person doing the adopting. However, I have a friend whose brother is a lawyer, and another friend who knows tidbits about every subject under the sun, so they answered a few of my questions. But please, if everything is inaccurate, forgive/correct me.

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**Chapter 2—Qualified**

Kira was waiting for Rei in front of the hotel she was staying at when a taxi drove up and the driver ripped some money out of Rei's hand, shoved Rei out into the street, and sped off, yelling at Rei in some sort of foreign language.

"What was _that_ about?"

"We had an, uh…._disagreement_ about racing. We argued the whole way here. He hates my guts. I hope he dies. Where we headed?"

Kira shook her head, smiling. "Room 106. Are you _sure_ all you did was yell at him?"

"I didn't hit him, if that's what you mean."

"Promise? Because we've talked about your temper, and—"

Rei cut her off by putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her in for a kiss. Kira's first instinct was to pull away and scold Rei some more, but she found that she couldn't.

After a few moments, Rei pulled away and gave her his trademark grin. "I missed you."

Kira returned his grin with an adorable one of her own. "I know. C'mon, let's go up to the room and you can drop off your bag, and then we can go over to see Ms. Reese."

"Eh?"

"The woman who runs the orphanage."

"Oh, right."

"Moron."

"Thank you for noticing."

XXX

Unfortunately, the adoption was not going to be as easy as they thought.

The meeting with Ms. Reese lasted less than an hour. Ms. Reese herself was a tiny, thin woman, only about five and a half feet tall, with shoulder-length auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a warm, gentle smile. She talked them through the entire process, explaining that it was not as easy or as quick as Kira and Rei might prefer. After filing for adoption, they would have to wait to find out if they qualified. If they did, they would then receive basic information about the child they wished to adopt, and then spend time with the child, so that the three would get to know each other. Ms. Reese also explained that she preferred the adoption to be by mutual consent of the parents and the child. The entire process would take three to nine months, possibly longer.

"Now, I understand that you live overseas," Ms. Reese said as their meeting drew to a close. "There is an adoption agency in Japan that works with our establishment. I recommend that you go there and speak with Mr. Yuki Hirohito. Here…is the address…" As she spoke, Ms. Reese scribbled something down on a piece of paper. "And my business card. Call collect if you have any questions. If you qualify for adoption, you can return here to New York and I'll introduce you formally to Emily. Until then, like I said, call anytime."

Nodding, Rei and Kira stood, shook the little woman's hand (she really was very small) and left her office.

XXX

"That could have gone better," Rei commented.

"But it could have gone worse. I say we take her advice and meet this Hirohito guy. And if we decide we don't want to adopt Emily _after_ the meeting, we'll walk in the other direction and I'll never mention it again."

"Promises, promises," Rei muttered, grinning.

XXX

**Back in Japan…**

Kira ran breathlessly into the kitchen. "Rei!"

Silence.

"Rei!"

Still no answer.

"REI KASHINO, WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU'D BETTER TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU AND IF I DON'T FIND YOU IN TEN SECONDS I'M BOOKING A PLANE TICKET AND LEAVING FOR NEW YORK WITHOUT YOU!!!"

"In here!"

Kira blinked. Apparently the words "plane ticket," "leaving," and "New York" had gone right over her husband's head. Shaking her head at the stupidity of men, she went into the living room.

Rei was sitting on the couch, Tatsuya was sitting in the chair across from him, and Harumi was stretched out lazily on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The three glanced over at Kira as she entered, blinking at the excitement that was radiating off of her in waves

Under normal circumstances, Kira and Harumi would have gotten in eighty or ninety words in the fifteen seconds since Kira had entered the room. However, at this moment, Kira completely ignored her friends' existences and waved a sheaf of papers in the air. "Rei, we qualify! Mr. Hirohito called me at work and told me we qualify for adoption and the paperwork was in the mail and I've got us booked for the six o'clock flight to New York so _pack_, because it's time to go!" Without even pausing for breath, she launched at Rei and threw her arms around him. "I'm finally going to be a mother!"

Though he looked more than slightly taken aback, Rei couldn't stop a small half-smile from touching his face. "Yeah, I guess you are."

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Finally! I thought I'd never get this written…considering that it's only three pages long it took forever to write… I tried to make it as accurate as possible and that took awhile. Anyhow, here it is. Sorry it's so short! R+R please!


	3. Past

**Chapter 3—Past**

Ms. Reese, just as small and smiling as ever, ushered Rei and Kira into her office at ten o'clock the next morning. "Mr. Hirohito called me last night and told me you were coming. He told me the good news. Congratulations! Now, have some coffee and sit—_sit_, Mr. Kashino—and I'll be right back with Emily."

Kira couldn't stop grinning. She just sat there, clutching Rei's hand and fidgeting as she waited for Ms. Reese to return with Emily. Rei, in contrast, simply sipped his coffee in silence.

The truth was, Rei couldn't remember ever being so nervous about a meeting. If everything went well today, he was looking at a life as a full-time father. He would have someone to set an example for. The very thought terrified him; what if he wasn't good enough? Continuing in this line of thought, he had just begun a mental list of how many different ways this whole parenting thing could blow up in his face when the door opened and Ms. Reese entered, followed by a girl who could only be Emily.

She was, as Kira had said, very pretty. At twelve years, she was only about four feet nine inches tall, and very thin. Her hair was thick, black, and resting in a long, shining braid against her back, falling to her waist. Her eyes were dark, too, and framed by long lashes. Her skin was tanned from the sun, and she wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a dark green T-shirt, and running shoes. She surveyed them emotionlessly, then looked back at Ms. Reese.

Ms. Reese's mood seemed to have changed dramatically. Whereas she had been smiling and happy before she left the room, now she appeared rather anxious and fidgety. "This is Kira and Rei Kashino, Emily. I told you about them. They wanted to meet you."

Emily nodded once, then returned her gaze to Kira and Rei.

"Hello, Emily," Kira said uncertainly. The intense gaze was a bit unnerving. "Um…nice to meet you." 

Emily nodded again.

"Um…Emily?" Ms. Reese said after a rather awkward moment. "I'm going to talk to Kira and Rei for a moment. Wait here, all right?"

The girl didn't reply. She just walked over to the window, rested her elbows on the sill, and fell to watching the birds in the tree outside.

"Will you step outside with me for a moment?" Ms. Reese asked.

Slightly taken aback, the "hopeful parents" nodded and followed her into the hallway.

"Wow," Rei said after a moment passed in silence. "That was…scary."

"Why wouldn't she talk to us?" Kira asked quietly.

"That's…what I needed to talk to you about. But before I say anything, I need to know…" Ms. Reese hesitated, then spoke again, slowly. "Are you prepared to take her…no matter what?"

Rei and Kira looked at each other. All of their thoughts were communicated in that single glance, and Rei's small nod. Kira tilted her head to the side. To Rei, her meaning was clear: "Are you sure?" And Rei nodded again, so Kira turned back to Ms. Reese. "I said we'd take her home with us, and we will. But why won't she talk?"

Ms. Reese sighed. "No one knows."

Kira looked confused, and Rei blinked stupidly. "Huh?"

Ms. Reese sighed and returned to her office. "Emily, hon, it's almost time for lunch. Why don't you go to the kitchen? I'm going to talk to Kira and Rei and you can come back up after you eat."

Emily's only response was to get up and walk out the door. Ms. Reese sighed and dropped into a chair. She looked tired all of a sudden, and much older than she really was. "Sit down," she said, gesturing to the two chairs in front of her desk. "When I say I no one knows why Emily doesn't talk, I'm completely serious. Hers is a long story, and a sad one. I only know parts of it that she told me years ago, but I had to piece most of it together based on the scraps she was willing to talk about." She sighed. "I'm not sure how much to tell you, so I'll just tell you everything I know." She was silent for a moment before she began. "Emily's parents died when she was five. Her mother was a cabaret singer, singing in coffee shops and clubs and the occasional hotel, and wherever else she could get a gig, and her father was a karate instructor."

"What happened to them?"

Ms. Reese sighed again. "They were murdered."

The silence in the room was heavy, as though a giant, invisible cape had settled over them. "M-murdered?" Kira repeated, horrified.

"Yes. I found her by her parents' bodies. She wasn't crying at all. She was frozen, like a statue. I took her back to the orphanage, which at that point was new. There were only two children here at the time. Well, anyway, I got her back here and I called the police, and naturally they did an investigation, but they never found out who killed them. I tried to get Emily to tell me what happened, but she just kept saying 'I don't know' and 'I didn't see him.' She wouldn't tell the police anything, either. All she would say was that she had been in a friend's apartment, which was in the same building as her own family's apartment, when it happened. She was supposed to meet her parents just in front of the apartment building so the family could go out to dinner, and when she got there, the place was deserted and her parents' bodies were lying in an alleyway right next to the building."

"How awful," Kira murmured. "To have something like that happen to you at such a young age…"

Ms. Reese nodded. "Well, Emily stayed with us for about a week. She was quiet and didn't socialize with the other two kids at all, but she spoke when someone else asked her a question or spoke to her first."

"She was only here for a week?" Rei asked. "Why? Did someone take her into foster care or something?"

The woman shook her head. "No one came to the orphanage back then. It was just starting out, so no one really knew about it. No, she ran away."

"_Ran away_?" Kira echoed. "When she was _five_?"

"Oh, yes. She always was very smart, and very athletic. Her father started her in martial arts when she was very young, and from what I heard, she picked up on it quickly. It certainly wouldn't have been hard for her to slip out without drawing attention to herself. Well, I went into the room where the kids sleep one morning about a week and a half after the murder, and Emily's bed was empty. I looked all over the place for her, but I couldn't find her. It was seven years before I did."

"Seven _years_?"

Ms. Reese nodded sadly. "I searched for her for months after the police had given up the investigation, but I finally had to admit defeat. Then, one day, I was on my way back to the orphanage with groceries when I passed by the same alleyway that Emily's parents were murdered in, and there she was. Just sitting there on the ground, leaning against the wall and looking more lost than any child should ever have to. Her clothes were ripped up and she was covered in cuts and bruises, but the wounds were at least two days old. Well, I asked her to come back to the orphanage with me, and she came, quiet as anything. But she refused to go see a doctor. I told her she needed to, and she planted her feet and shook her head, and she refused to move. So I ended up cleaning the cuts and patching her up the best I could, and I offered her a place here, which she took. Through all that, she didn't say a single word. That was about six weeks ago, and…she's been absolutely silent the entire time. She hasn't made a sound."

"What do you think happened to her?" Kira asked after a moment of silence passed.

Ms. Reese sighed deeply, and the few lines on her face suddenly seemed to be etched firmly into the skin, deepening with each passing moment. "I don't know."

Minutes later, Emily returned. Ms. Reese motioned for her to sit down, which she did.

"Emily?" she said softly. "Kira and Rei have come here because they want to adopt you. I would like you to get to know them, and perhaps return with them to Japan. Will you…consider it? Please?"

Emily, instead of shaking or nodding her head, simply turned to look at the couple that had come for her. She gazed at them for several minutes, her expression revealing nothing. Then, to everyone's surprise, she stood slowly and left the room.

"What was _that_?" Rei asked in amazement.

"_That_, Mr. Kashino…was Emily," Ms. Reese sighed. "And if I'm not mistaken, she's come to her decision."

And so she had. A few minutes later, Emily returned carrying a small duffel bag and a backpack and stood in the doorway, looking from Rei to Kira to Ms. Reese as if to ask, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

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So now you all have met Emily. Is she one freaky chick, or what? Well, anyway, sorry this chapter was so short. Hopefully the next one will be longer. R+R please!!!


	4. Home

I've gotten a lot of reviews from people saying they like Emily. I'm glad! I didn't know what you guys would think of her. I've never written a character like her before, so it's kind of a challenge. But I'll try to keep everyone in character, and I'm going to try to keep this story at a steady pace… I've been reading over my other fics and something occurred to me--I'm the friggin' Speedy Gonzales of fanfic writing! So I've gotta break that habit…

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**Chapter 4—Home**

Kira took a deep breath as the plane took off. This was it; there was no turning back.

Rei, sitting beside her, was nothing short of terrified, though he hid it well enough that Kira was the only one who noticed. Emily, sitting next to the window, was listening to a portable CD player and writing in a green spiral notebook. Sighing, Kira laid her head on Rei's shoulder and closed her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up to hear the announcement that the plane would be landing in twenty minutes.

Emily had put away her notebook and her CD player and was staring out the window. Rei had fallen asleep with his head resting on Kira's, and he was holding her hand gently in his own.

After a moment, Kira shook her husband gently to wake him. "Mmm…wha?" Rei asked groggily.

"We're gonna land soon."

"O-o-okay," Rei said, failing to stifle a yawn. "How's Emily?"

"She hasn't said a word," Kira replied in a whisper, casting an anxious glance at the small girl by the window. However, Emily either hadn't heard a word of the exchange, or _had_ heard but didn't care. Either way, she didn't look at her new parents.

Rei waited impatiently for the plane to land. He wanted to get home, and he wanted to get there soon. He had to get Kira alone so they could try to find a way to get along with the newest member of their family.

Something told him this wasn't going to be easy…

XXX

Kira sat silently in a chair in their living room, watching Rei pace up and down the room. He didn't look angry, but Kira could tell that he wasn't exactly happy either. He was freaked out. Severely.

"Rei, please say something." The words issued softly from Kira's mouth, but she knew Rei had heard them.

Rei didn't reply for awhile, but after several more minutes, he stopped pacing and turned to look at his wife. "Kira, I've never done this before. I was hoping to adopt a nice, normal kid, one I could talk to and actually get an answer from!"

"Rei—"

"And now… I just keep feeling like this is going to blow up in my face! I just know I'm going to do or say something stupid and make all our lives worse! I don't know how to _do_ this! I haven't had to get close to someone so closed off from the world since…"

"Since you met me," Kira said quietly.

"Well…yeah." Sighing, Rei began pacing again. "But she's worse than you were. I can feel it. You at least had some kind of emotion I could understand. She's just so…blank. Unattached. I won't be a good father until I know what to say to her. How can I?"

The poor, tortured man came to an abrupt halt in his pacing as he felt a soft hand on his arm, and he looked down into Kira's large, expressive eyes. Right now, those eyes were full of understanding and anxiety.

"Just…say what feels right. Try, okay? For me? Please?" She leaned forward to press a kiss against his shoulder. "That girl upstairs…she needs us. I know it."

After a long pause, Rei sighed. "Okay. For you. But if this all blows up in my face… I wasn't here, I couldn't have done anything, I don't even know who you people are."

Kira giggled. "Okay. Now let's go to bed. We've all got an early morning tomorrow."

XXX

Emily was up with the sun the next morning. She lay in bed for awhile, staring at the ceiling and listened to a song on the classical radio station she'd tuned it to in an attempt to calm her thoughts.

Because while she presented a calm and unemotional face to the world, her mind was as turbulent as a river swollen from a spring rain.

The room Rei and Kira had given her had clearly never been used. The floor was hardwood, with a braided rug on the floor by the bed, the white walls were bare and waiting to be filled, and the bed was covered with two colorful quilts, white sheets sprinkled with flowers, and three thick feather pillows along with two small pillows for decoration. The only other pieces of furniture were a dresser made of deep reddish-brown wood and a matching desk, which was situated under a large window that presented a view of the city.

The rest of the house had taken her by surprise. Knowing that Kira and Rei weren't exactly short on money, she expected them to have an extravagant house filled to the brim with expensive items, and yet instead of having one of the large and expensive-looking houses located toward the outside of the city, they had chosen to live in a cozy apartment on the fifth floor of a fairly new apartment complex. All of the floors were hardwood, and there were only two bedrooms, a kitchen, a study where Kira spent much of her time painting, and the living room, which was the largest of the rooms and sported a large television set, two armchairs, a couch, and two end tables on either side of the couch. Kira and Rei's bedroom had only a queen-sized bed and a dresser, both made of the same dark reddish-brown wood that Emily's were made of. The study held all of the supplies Kira used when she painted, and several of her paintings were hung from a clothesline that had been strung up from wall to wall, so that they would dry without becoming smudged or blotched. And the kitchen was….well….a kitchen. Everything was cozy and comfortable and not the least bit intimidating.

Emily liked the place. It didn't exactly make her feel settled; nothing had, not for a long, long time. But it was the closest she'd felt to safe since that night, so long ago, when her parents, her protectors, her shields from the outside world had been taken from her in the most brutal of ways.

Sighing, the girl stood up and walked over to the window. The city was quiet, with only a few early-morning drivers on the street below. The sun wasn't even fully up yet, but Emily knew she'd never be able to go back to sleep. So, sighing, she went over to the closet, took out a pair of old, faded jeans and a blue T-shirt, got dressed, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

XXX

Rei woke up just as the sun made it's appearance. Most unusually, he sprang awake as suddenly and completely as if he'd been doused with cold water; typically, his alarm wouldn't go off for another two hours.

_Go figure_.

Sighing, he stretched, sat up, and looked down at the young woman lying beside him on the bed.

A fresh strip of sunshine fell through a crack in the window blinds and across Kira's sleeping face. That face was, as far as Rei was concerned, the face of an angel. Her chest rose and fell gently as she breathed peacefully in her sleep. A soft smile touched Rei's face as he gently brushed a wisp of hair out of her closed eyes. Then, after over half an hour of lying there and staring at her, he stood up, dressed quietly, and left the room.

Emily, upon reflection, had decided to make breakfast for her new parents as well. It was the least she could do for them, for taking her in. She had laid out three places on the table, and each plate had a helping of scrambled eggs, three strips of bacon, a stack of three pancakes, and two biscuits. Each also had a coffee mug next to it, and in the center of the table were plates of pancakes, bacon, and biscuits, a bowl of scrambled eggs, a gallon of milk, a gallon of orange juice, some sugar, a tub of butter, a container of syrup, and a jar of grape jelly.

When Rei entered, Emily gestured to a chair, clearly telling him to sit down, which he did. "This looks great. You must have been up since sunrise making this!"

Emily nodded and took a seat across from him and pointed at the full pot of fresh coffee on the counter. Rei got up, poured himself a mug, and sat back down.

Silence reigned in the kitchen. Neither one said a word as Emily poured herself some orange juice and they both began to eat.

All in all, Rei was relieved when Kira made her appearance ten minutes later. She was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and running shoes. "Why didn't you wake me up, Rei?" she snapped, though her face was nothing close to irritated. "And what's all this? Don't tell me _you_ made it…you can barely use the microwave…"

"Good morning to you, too," Rei replied, grinning. "Emily made it. It's good, too. Eat."

Kira smiled back at him. "All right. But I only have time for a quick bite before I leave."

Rei looked confused. "But it's Saturday."

"I know it is. Miki called. She needs me to swing by and check on some stuff for the auction. It won't take long, and I thought when I got back Emily and I could go over to Rumi's store. How about it, Emily? Do you like art?"

Emily nodded vigorously.

"Good. Then how about this: You can come with me to the studio, I can show you around the place, introduce you to the freaks I work with—" Here, Emily gave her a tiny smile, which Kira considered a huge feat. "What? They are! And then I can introduce you to my friend Harumi. She owns a clothing store, and she's one of Japan's biggest fashion designers. She'll give us a _huge_ discount, and you and I can go on a shopping spree. There's a music store right next to her store, too. So I figured we can spend most of the day shopping—we had an auction at the art studio right before you came and now we're having another one, which seems weird, I know, but we need it to keep the place in the black—so I made a bunch of money selling some of my paintings and that, in addition to the salary I get for keeping the employees and the building alive, means I have a ton of money which I was saving to spend on you—and I can show you around the city, and then we can meet Rei for dinner at a new Italian restaurant. He's gonna go visit a friend of ours at the hospital. How does that sound?"

Emily blinked and nodded very slowly.

"She talks that fast a lot," Rei said teasingly, glancing at Kira as he spoke to Emily. "You'll get used to it."

Kira stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh, c'mon, Kira. What are you, four?"

"No, I'm hungry. Pass the syrup."

Emily smiled again, which was as close to a laugh as she's gotten in a while, and tossed the syrup across the table to Kira.

Life was finally starting to look up.

XXX

The art studio/music hall was located in what Rei referred to as the "artsy" part of town, with an art supply store on its left side and a music shop on its left. Across the street, a two-story bookstore and a coffee shop stood on either side of a sprawling clothing store with _Rumi's Clothing and Accessories _across the wall over the door in foot-high neon purple letters.

As Kira explained to Emily, Kira hadn't been able to afford the building when she'd wanted to buy it, and she hadn't thought she'd ever own the place. But then she met and became good friends with an American woman named Linda Sheffield, who wanted to turn the place into a music hall. Finally, after having known each other for about a month, the two made a deal. They became business partners, bought the building, added onto it, and used part of it as a music hall and the other part as an art studio and mini-museum.

Unfortunately, two years before Linda had moved back to L.A. and sold her part of the building to a stern and semi-unfriendly Korean who didn't know Kira and didn't particularly care about that fact. The Korean had hired an instructor for the orchestra and rarely visited the place except on business matters.

"Okay, I've gotta do some work," Kira said as they entered the building through the double doors. "I'll be done in about an hour, maybe two, so feel free to look around until then. Miki is the only other person working today, so you'll be able to poke your nose into whatever you want and no one will stop you. So will you be okay by yourself for a while?"

Emily nodded.

"Okay. Off you go then."

The building was much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. After exploring the foyer, which held only a huge desk covered with papers, pens, pencils, and a phone, she moved off through a door to her left.

She spent about an hour exploring the art exhibits. The floors throughout the building were wood, polished so that Emily could see her own reflection when she looked down, and the walls of the first room were made of a slightly darker wood and hung with colorful tapestries, portraits, landscapes, oil paintings, photographic art, and abstracts. Continuing on into the next room, Emily found a room filled with beautiful, antique tables on which sat all manner of sculptures, pottery, wood carvings, glass figurines…

After she finished looking at the art (and wishing she had the kind of talent that these artists had), Emily doubled back to the foyer and walked through the double doors on the other side.

The moment she stepped through the doors, Emily was sure she'd died and gone to a heaven that only existed in the brightest corners of her mind.

This part of the building consisted of only one room, the most beautiful room the girl had ever laid eyes on. A desk on the back wall held neat stacks of sheet music—hundreds of different tunes, dozens of sonatas, concertos galore. A music stand stood in the exact center of the room, bearing more sheet music. Surrounding it were at least fifty chairs, each with a music stand in front of it. Like the one in the center of the room, each of these stands bore several pages of music.

But what caught Emily's eye immediately was the grand piano that stood in the far corner of the huge room. Polished to a perfect shine that reflected the room perfectly, it shone black and beautiful, drawing her to it like a magnet.

Slowly, hesitantly, Emily sat down on the stool in front of the piano. Her fingers tingled, longing to feel the instrument again after so much time.

The last time she had touched a piano, she had just come to the orphanage for the second time. She had accompanied Ms. Reese to visit a woman, Rebecca Sanders, who wished to adopt a child. While Ms. Reese and her friend had been talking, Emily had wandered into a room with a piano, and she had managed to play a few notes before Mrs. Sanders had run into the room and screamed for Emily to get away from her beloved piano. Emily had never seen the woman again.

If she strained her memory, Emily could remember herself as a child, sitting on her mother's lap in the music room of the local dance club, as her mother taught her how to play the instrument. After her parents had died, Emily had continued to practice, sneaking into clubs every night after hours to teach herself how to play.

Finally, after sitting for several minutes staring at the piano, Emily reached out slowly to press one of the pearly white keys. And at that moment, the rest of the world, all of her problems, fell away into nothing, as though they had been kissed away by the softest and gentlest of touches. The world and its problems were insignificant, a tiny stain in the beautifully woven tapestry that was the music the instrument made.

Lost in the gentle, lilting notes of an old, familiar song, she didn't realize that she wasn't alone until she finished the sonata and a voice behind her said in perfect English, "I wasn't aware that the hall was open today."

Emily jumped a foot in the air, stood so quickly that she had to grab the stool to stop it from toppling over, and dropped into a hasty bow of apology in front of the Japanese man standing in front of her. Then, as she straightened, she did a double-take. No, not a man. A boy. A Japanese boy only about three years older than herself, with raven-colored hair that brushed the tops of his shoulders and curious, gentle eyes, wearing blue jeans and a loose white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top button undone. Cocking her head to the side, Emily gazed at him questioningly, and he laughed. "Do you speak Japanese?"

She nodded.

"Good," the boy said, switching to his native language. "I know English but I'd rather speak my own language—it's familiar." He grinned at her. "I'm Akemi."

She just nodded again.

"Um….and you are….?"

Silence.

"Okay….I'll guess then." He thought for a moment. "Maria."

Emily shook her head.

"Rebecca."

Once again, she shook her head.

"Is it American?"

Nod.

"So you're American?"

She shrugged.

"Half?"

She nodded.

"American name?"

Once again, a nod.

"Hmm…. Oh, I know! Emily?"

Smiling her little smile, she nodded.

"Ha! Third time's the charm. So you like music?"

Emily looked at him as if to say, "Duh."

"Right. Stupid question. Well, you play beautifully. You can't be more than….twelve? Thirteen? But you play like a professional…."

Emily blushed faintly, but was spared the ordeal of trying to run away by a voice behind her. "Emily! What are you doing in here?"

Akemi turned quickly. "Mrs. Kashino!"

"Hey, Akemi," Kira said, smiling. "This is Emily, the newest member of our family. This is Akemi, Emily. He lives with his music teacher in an apartment on the floor under us, and he helps Toshiro—that's the orchestra director—and I keep this place up in exchange for music lessons."

"I've been trying to get her to talk to me, but it seems she doesn't like me enough yet. Well, never mind, that will change soon enough." He grinned at Kira. "She's an amazing musician. The best I've heard yet. You should think about getting her in the orchestra. She's about five years younger than most of the people in it, but she's just as good as they are, maybe better. But I've gotta get back home, I just came to get some music." He held up a small stack of sheet music, gave them a mock salute, and walked off.

"I didn't know you played, Emily," Kira said, putting her arm around the girl's shoulder and steering her out of the room and through the double doors, back into the noise and bustle of the city. She almost added "You should have told me" before she remembered that that was _not_ a good thing to say. After a moment, she said, "C'mon, let's head over to see Rumi."

Harumi greeted them enthusiastically, grinning and welcoming Emily to her store. Having been called and filled in beforehand by Kira, she didn't expect the girl to talk, and she proceeded to offer a fifty percent discount on anything they wanted to buy.

By the time they met Rei at the restaurant, the car was laden down with bags of clothes, jewelry, books, several tablets of blank sheet music, a roll of canvas, and art supplies. After going to Harumi's store, they had gone shopping at a music store, a bookstore, and an art supply store. They'd had lunch at the coffee shop across the street from Kira's art studio after they'd stopped at Rumi's, then spent the rest of the day shopping.

Dinner was nice, in Emily's opinion. Kira and Rei spent the time talking about Miaka (the girl Rei had been visiting at the hospital), Kira's work, Rei's next race, and all the shopping that Kira and Emily had done. They took time to fill Emily in whenever she looked confused, and she just listened as she ate her way though four-star Italian cuisine.

That night, as Emily lay in her bed with the covers up to her chin, she smiled up at the ceiling. _Well, Mom, Dad_, she thought, _I'm here. I have something I can_...._sort of call a family again. I hope you're happy for me_…

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So there's that chapter. I never thought I'd get it written, but I wanted it to be longer than the others. Well, there it is. R+R please!


	5. Friendship

**Chapter 5—Friendship**

Emily settled relatively easily into her new life. She seldom left the apartment except to visit the studio with Kira, and even then she stayed in the music room, just sitting, or playing the piano, or writing music. Her thirteenth birthday passed with a small party at their apartment, with just Kira, Rei, a small mountain of gifts, and a cake roughly the size of Massachusetts. She saw Akemi twice more during the next month, and each time he talked to her in a perfectly friendly way. Her silence unsettled him, she knew, but he hid it well. Kira hadn't told him anything about her, only mentioning that she didn't talk and that it was pointless to try to get anything out of her.

As it was summer, the subject of school was avoided until two months after Emily moved in. However, the topic was approached at dinner one night, as they all sat around the table, eating their way through platefuls of Kira's cooking. The first time the topic came up, Emily shook her head violently and became engrossed in her food. Kira watched her for a while, contemplating, then sent Rei a look that said, "We need to talk."

Accordingly after dinner, when Emily had gone up to her room, Kira and Rei sat in the living room.

"She has to go to school," Rei said quietly, after a while.

"She does."

"But….she doesn't want to go."

"She doesn't." 

Rei glanced at her, but didn't comment on her lack of conversational skills at the moment. After several moments, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "So what do we do?"

Silence.

"Kira?"

"I have an idea."

"And? Spill it!"

"It….might not appeal to you, but…. What about Akemi?"

"What about him?"

"He's really smart. He's nice. And he likes Emily. He wants to be friends with her. He doesn't act like she's a freak because she doesn't talk. He accepts her for what she is. She needs that. Maybe he could…I dunno, tutor her."

Rei blinked at her, spluttering. "But…but…but… He's only fifteen! And we don't know how much schooling she's had! He's still in school himself, and a lot of his time is taken up with…with music and school and…"

"And he might try to get close to her?"

"Well…yeah." 

Kira raised an eyebrow. And suddenly, she laughed.

"What?"

"You've only been a father for a month…" Kira said between laughs. "And you're already prepared to do the Good Cop/Bad Cop thing with anyone who dares come near your daughter." Her laughter subsided into small giggles. "Only with you, there won't be a Good Cop."

"That's not—"

Kira's laughter finally died, and she stood and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Don't worry, love. I won't hold it against you. It's kinda cute, actually."

Rei sighed. "Fine…call Akemi tomorrow. But so help me, if he does _anything_…"

"You have my permission to drop him out the window." Kira leaned down and kissed her husband. "I love you."

XXX

Kira woke up to find that the sun was already up and smiling at her through the curtains. The digital alarm clock on their bedside table read nine o'clock, and she heard Emily moving around in her room. Sighing, she turned slowly in Rei's embrace and, seeing that he was still asleep, slipped quietly out of his arms, dressed, and left the room.

The kitchen was empty. Expecting nothing else, Kira poured herself a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk and, grabbing the newspaper, sat down at the table. She had just read the first few words of the headline when a piece of paper that was sitting in the middle of the table caught her eye. Puzzled, she reached for it, and smiled softly.

_I can read almost any book you give me and I can write well enough to write what Akemi says are amazing song lyrics—though I'm not sure I believe him about that—and I can do all the basic math stuff—you know, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, negatives, and a little bit of algebra—I learned all that from my friend Maria. Her mom was a teacher so she was really smart_. Kira paused here, frowning in a puzzled sort of way. Emily made it sound as though… No. Couldn't be. Sighing and shaking her head, she went back to reading the note. _And I wouldn't mind having Akemi teach me whatever else I need to know. I AM NOT GOING TO SCHOOL. Anything I want to learn I can learn here, in this building, or at the art studio. Call Akemi, and if he says yes, I'll learn from him_.

Grinning happily, Kira reached for the phone and dialed Akemi's number.

XXX

Early the next morning, Emily lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The sun had not yet risen, and Emily, since she knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, figured she might as well just get up, but was feeling too lazy to do anything about it. She couldn't remember ever feeling this relaxed. As she watched the ceiling, thinking about nothing in particular as her mind jumped from one tune to the next as if a piano were playing in her head, sunlight crept slowly across the floor and climbed up the walls to the ceiling, bathing the room in its warm, gentle glow.

At last, at around nine o'clock, she got up and dressed, going over the words to a song she'd written in her head and she put on a pair of red stretchy shorts, a T-shirt of the same color, and white tennis shoes. After quickly braiding her hair, she made her bed, opened the window, and left the room.

Kira was sitting in the kitchen, talking the phone. Seeing Emily hovering uncertainly in the doorway, she said "Thank you _so_ much" to the person on the other line, hung up the phone, and motioned for Emily to sit down. As the girl took a seat at the table, Kira pushed an empty bowl, a spoon, a box of cereal, a glass, and a carton of milk across the table toward her. "That was Akemi on the phone. He said he'd love to tutor you, and that he'll meet you at the studio in half an hour."

Emily nodded and poured some cereal into the bowl. In truth, she couldn't wait to get started. It had been too long since she'd learned anything new, and she was anxious to start lessons with Akemi. Her favorite subject in her lessons with Maria's mother had always been history and English, and she found herself hoping that those were the ones she'd get to start with.

_Happy now, Maria? _Emily thought, staring down at her breakfast without really seeing it. _You and your mother both should be_…_you're getting exactly what you wanted_. _I'm going on with my lessons, aren't I?_

XXX

Shockingly enough, at least for Emily, having Akemi tutor her was the perfect substitute for actual school. Akemi, as it turned out, was not only an inspired musician, but also an excellent student. But, as he explained to Emily as he taught her the Pythagorean Theorem (though as he explained, she shouldn't even be learning it until she was thirteen or fourteen, but since she was so far ahead of most sixth-grade students her age, he was teaching her now), he made up for his brains by being a horrible athlete.

"I can't even swing a bat the right way without the gym teacher laughing," he told her as she set about finding the length of the hypotenuse of triangle that had side lengths of eight inches. "I remember one time, I was supposed to be practicing my swing, and I missed the ball and hit the gym teacher in the eye."

Emily couldn't hold back a laugh. She giggled helplessly at a picture that formed in her mind of Akemi getting told off by a huge man in a jogging suit, sporting a black eye and a bloody nose. Akemi just waited for her to get herself under control, and then he simply said "It's nice to hear you laugh," and left it at that as he reached for her paper to check her answer.

"Okay, you've got the right idea, but you got the equation backwards…. Try again, and this time, take the two 8^2's and add them together…. What's eight squared?"

Emily wrote a sixty-four on the paper.

"Right, so take sixty-four plus sixty-four and you get….?"

_128_, Emily wrote.

"Good. So C^2 is a hundred and twenty-eight. Write that down. And that would make C….?"

Emily wrote _C =_, a square root sign, and _128_.

"Which is….?

Emily punched some numbers into the calculator Akemi had lent her. _11.313708, which when rounded to the tenth place is eleven and three-tenths_, she wrote.

"Very good….now write this down…." Akemi showed her a paper, on which was written:

A^2 + B^2 = C^2

_8^2 + 8^2 = C^2 _

_64 + 64 = C^2_

_128 = C^2_

_C = _[square root sign]_128_ _= 11.3_

After Emily finished writing all of that down, Akemi continued. "Okay, now let's do one more problem—you can do it on your own this time, and use the one we did together as a guide—and then we'll move on to history, and then you can show me how that song of yours is going…"

XXX

"Okay, so, how far have you gotten on the song you showed me yesterday?" Akemi asked, as he restacked the last of the papers, set them neatly on the desk in the corner of the music room, and walked over to where Emily was sitting at the piano.

Emily shuffled through the music on the piano and found what she was looking for. Slowly, she handed it to Akemi.

After a few silent minutes, Akemi sat down on the piano bench next to Emily and placed the music on the stand. "It's really good. Almost perfect. The only editing I would suggest on it would be in this last part, right here…" Pointing out what he meant, Akemi glanced at her. "Borrow your pencil?"

Emily handed it to him.

"Okay…try that…" He set the pencil on the stand and Emily read over the music. Smiling, she nodded. It was perfect, and in her head, the words sounded elegant and beautiful with the tune she played on the piano.

As the last chord of music faded into silence, Akemi sighed and grinned. "I think this is going to be a beautiful partnership, Em."

XXX

Kira dropped her pencil onto her desk and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head and yawning. Outside, black storm clouds had gathered in the sky, and a rumble of thunder rolled over the building. Her knee ached—it always gave her trouble on days like this. Sighing, she stacked al her papers neatly in one corner of the desk, stuck a Post-It note to the paper on the top, and stood. After checking to see that everything was ready for the tour that was coming the next day, she went to tell Emily to be out of the building by the time the custodial staff closed up at nine, and headed home.

As she sat in the usual evening traffic jam, she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and let her mind wander over the weeks since Emily had come into her life. There was no question—life was much more complicated now, but ever so much more interesting. And Rei was adorable when he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to a daughter.

This thought brought up another subject—what was Rei going to say if Akemi and Emily really did…get closer? _That_ thought was more than amusing—it was downright _hilarious_.

The apartment appeared empty when Kira came in, but the bathroom door was closed, and the shower was going. Dropping her bag on the couch, she went into the kitchen and started making a meal of spaghetti and garlic bread.

The food was almost finished when Rei finished showering, dressed, and headed toward the kitchen. He stopped short when he saw Kira at the stove, her back to him, stirring a pot of spaghetti. Smiling, he walked silently over to her and enfolded her in his arms.

Kira started as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind and squeezed in a gentle hug. "Long time no see, stranger," Rei said, chuckling.

Kira turned around in his embrace and smiled. "Hey. Where were you this morning? You were gone when I woke up."

"I had to get to the track early."

"Wh—"

The word didn't even have the chance to leave Kira's mouth before it was cut off by Rei's kiss. Smiling, she moved away from the stove to lean against the counter, wrapped her arms around Rei's shoulders, and returned the kiss.

"What was that for?" Kira demanded when they finally had to breathe.

"Because I didn't get to tell you I loved you this morning, and because you look so cute when you're cooking your heart out." Rei chuckled, leaning down to touch his forehead to Kira's, his eyes searching hers. "I love you."

Kira smiled up at him. "I love you, too." She turned back to the stove and stirred the noodles in the pot, but not before Rei saw her wince at the twisting the motion caused in her knee.

"Kira?"

"Hey, set the table, will you?"

"Kira, what's wrong?"

"…Nothing? Plates are in the cabinet, you know."

Rei frowned and turned her around. "I know your knee always hurts on days like this, and you've been working really hard lately."

"Make your point, and make it fast, because my noodles are going to die."

"My point is that you had another surgery barely three months ago and the doctor said to take it easy for awhile, and you haven't been." He kissed her on the forehead. "Sit down, take a load off. I'll finish dinner."

Kira raised her eyebrows. "_You're_ gonna cook?"

"Hey, I'm getting better at it, you said so yourself! And all I have to do is stir. So go sit, I'll cook, we'll eat, I'll clean up, we'll go in the living room, and you'll put ice on your knee while you watch me pace and worry until Emily gets home."

Kira giggled. "Can't argue with that."

So accordingly after dinner, Rei and Kira went into the living room, Kira put ice on her knee, and Rei sat down next to her, drawing her close in a protective, one-armed hug as she laid her head on his shoulder. The room was comfortably silent as Rei ran his fingers through Kira's hair. Kira fought to stay awake, not wanting to fall asleep on the couch, but the soft, repetitive touch on her head made her drowsy even though it was only eight-thirty. After about fifteen minutes, she finally gave up the battle and allowed herself to fall into a doze that soon turned into a much deeper slumber.

Rei chuckled slightly. "Kira…._my_ Kira." He still loved the way it sounded, even after being married for over a decade and being in love with Kira for two years longer. He smiled and kissed the top of Kira's head. "My Kira…"

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I love the Pythagorean Theorem….it's the easiest thing I've done in math in a long time…. Anyway, R + R = YAY!!!!


	6. Kiss

I only added a couple of things here and there when I edited this chapter, but I figured I'd repost it anyway because what's the use of editing a chapter if you're not gonna have someone read what you fixed? Oh, and I wanted to tell you… Readers are probably wondering why Emily won't talk. It's not that she _won't_. It's that she _can't_. It's actually a condition that is usually brought on by severe trauma, among other things. I read that in a book….I forgot which book, though…. Anyway, on to chapter 7!

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**Chapter 6—Kiss**

**A year later….**

Rain was coming down hard that morning. Rei woke much earlier than usual as a huge roll of thunder crashed over their home. At four o'clock in the morning. Before the sun was up. And if the sun wasn't up, Rei sure as heck wasn't. He completely ignored the fact that the sun wasn't likely to come at all today. Scowling, he turned over so that his back was facing the window and came face-to-face with his wife.

She was sleeping on her side, her head pillowed by one hand, and the quilt was tucked snugly around her. Her hair was scattered across the pillow, and a few wisps of it were blowing across her forehead in the breeze from the fan. Rei caught them with his fingertips and brushed them behind her ear.

Kira looked peaceful when she slept—so peaceful, in fact, that it scared Rei half to death. She had looked just a peaceful when she'd been lying in a hospital bed, when it was uncertain that she would ever open her eyes again. And when he'd been sitting by her hospital bed, holding her hand and waiting patiently for some sign that she was still _there_, still _her_, he remembered thinking, "Please, God, don't take her away from me. She's not finished here, not yet." And he still thought that every time he watched her sleep. He still felt that fleeting, intense relief when she opened her eyes in the morning, and he still felt that twinge of fear when she closed them at night.

He would give anything he had to go back in time to the day of the accident. If he'd known what was going to happen…he would have done _something_. He couldn't say what, exactly. Beg her not to leave the house? Kiss her a little more tenderly? Hug her a little more tightly? _Something_.

But the accident, the coma, the surgeries, the weeks or months of physical therapy that Kira still went through after every operation, all of it had happened, and none of it had been easy. But she was still there. Still alive. And still very much okay. And for that, Rei—though not a terribly religious person—thanked God every time she smiled at him.

Smiling slightly, Rei tucked the quilt more tightly around Kira's small frame, put one arm around her, and fell asleep with his face buried in her hair.

XXX

By the time five o'clock rolled around, Emily had been lying wake for an hour and a half, listening to the thunder raging outside as the rain beat on the roof of the apartment, feeling unusually calm and at peace with the world.

Emily loved storms. This didn't make sense, because all of her worst memories had been made on rainy days, but for some strange reason, thunder, lighting, rain…they calmed her. She couldn't explain why, but they did.

Finally, as the sky was beginning to turn a dull, cold, steely gray, Emily got out of bed, dressed, braided her hair, and opened the window to let the air in. Fortunately, the rain did not fall through the window, so she left it open, made the bed hastily, and hurried downstairs.

The art studio wouldn't open until eight, but Emily threw some shoes on, left a note on the table, and ran out, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack by the door. She spent the next few hours walking around the city, lost in thought.

The past year had been the calmest she could remember. Rei and Kira were the closest thing to parents she had known in a long time. They talked to her and told her things about their lives, but they never pressed her for details about her own. They never asked her to talk, and simply made up for her silence by talking twice as much. Or maybe Kira really _was_ as talkative as Rei said. Though, Emily had to admit, the woman didn't seem as open around other people as she did around family and close friends.

At last, one of the workers opened the art studio and, recognizing Emily, who had been sitting on the steps after her walk, ushered the girl inside, saying only, "Come on in, out of the rain, dear."

Because it was so early, the music room was empty. In a few hours the orchestra would be coming in to practice, but until that time, Emily was alone, unless someone just _happened_ to drop by, which they did, just as the girl had gotten halfway through a composition for which the music had been left on the piano rack.

"What're you doing here so early, Em?"

She was used to Akemi doing this by now—she didn't even fall off the bench this time as she turned around to smile at him.

Emily and Akemi had been spending a lot of time together lately. She had fallen into the habit of staring at him when he was busy, noting how his brow furrowed when he was confused or thoughtful, and how he got an intense look in his eye when he reached the heart of a song. Little did she know that he did the same to her when she wasn't looking.

And at the age of fourteen, she didn't recognize a crush when it was staring her right in the face. But she had one. An enormous one. Only she didn't know it yet.

"Well, never mind," Akemi said, not waiting for her to answer his inquiry. "I'm glad you're here. I finished my song, and I wanted to play it for you…I was up until two finishing it, so it had better be perfect."

And from there they settled into the routine they had begun. She listened to and corrected his music, and he helped her stumble her way through history, algebra, science, and French (Emily had decided to take on a third language, and it just so happened that Akemi's music teacher had taught him French). By the time they had finished studying, the orchestra had arrived and Akemi took Emily out to lunch. Then it was back to the studio to say hello to Kira, then some more work on music, and then Kira joined them in a trip to a movie or a music store, or anything else that they felt like doing before they all headed back to the apartment building.

Emily couldn't have known that today would be different. But it was. It really, really was.

Kira and Rei had gone out to dinner—just the two of them. They hadn't done so in a long while, and Emily had agreed to go to Akemi's while the lovebirds (as everyone who knew them referred to them as) went off to spend a romantic evening alone.

It was raining again—a steady downpour of water that instantly drenched anyone who dared step outside the warmth and comfort of their homes or cars. Emily and Akemi had gone to see the orchestra perform at the local high school, and they were on their way to get pizza when the storm started. The two ran for the only shelter they could see—a small café/bookstore that was tucked between an electronics store and a four-star Chinese restaurant. It was in that café/bookstore that Emily received her first kiss from the boy who would become her first love.

It happened very suddenly. They had ordered two cups of coffee and sat down at a table in a corner. Akemi was talking about music, and Emily was signing responses—Kira had taught both of them sign language a little over six months before.

_You've never told me what it is that draws you to music_, Emily signed. _Why do you like it so much? I mean, I love it because it takes me away from here, and I've always been the "anywhere but here" girl. But what about you? _

Akemi smiled. "I never thought about it. I guess…"

Yes?

"Well, you know how there's always one sound, or scent, or sight, that triggers a memory? Well, whenever I hear a note of music, I remember… Well, I'm not even sure it's real, but I remember my mother singing me to sleep at night, and my father playing the piano as Mom put me to bed. They were so… Well, they were the perfect parents, I'll say that."

_Do you_…_remember them at all_?"

"Some. I remember my mother more than my father. He died when I was only three, and I was six when Mom died. She had the most beautiful voice I've ever heard…" Akemi shook his head, as though trying to shake the memories away, and focused back on Emily. "Em?"

Yes?

"I'm going to ask you something, and I'm not sure how you'll take it. Promise not to smack me?"

Emily giggled. _I promise_.

"Okay. Well…you and I have known each other for a while, and we've…spent a lot of time together. And…I like you. A lot. I know you're younger than me, but…I would really like to take you out sometime."

_So? What's the problem? You take me out a lot, we're friends_.

"I know, but…I want to be more than friends. What we're doing right now…it feels like we're more than friends already, so…I'm going to do what I've been thinking of doing for a month or so now."

Emily's heart was beating uncomfortably fast. Where had this come from? What's that? she signed.

And in answer to that question, Akemi leaned forward and kissed her.

It wasn't a kiss, really—his lips just barely brushed hers before he pulled back and cocked his head to the side, as though trying to decide if he liked it or not. Emily's eyes were wide and confused as she stared at him. Then, quite suddenly, she stood up so quickly that her chair nearly fell over—it would have hit the floor if a man who was walking behind her hadn't caught it and set it upright before it could crash. And then, quite suddenly, she had run out into the storm, leaving Akemi sitting at their table, staring after her.

Emily was faster than she looked. Her tiny form built up next to no wind resistance, and she had done a lot of running during her years on the streets. If Akemi had decided to come after her, he could not have hoped to catch her after she had disappeared among the crowds, and even if he had, he wouldn't have known what to say.

So she reached the apartment without any trouble, let herself in (Rei and Kira were still out), and threw herself on the bed, her thoughts turbulent and muddled. _What the hell was that?_ she thought wildly. _What did he_…_? Why would he_…_? But_…_but_… _I've never liked a boy before! I don't know _how_!_

Annoyed, Emily did what she always did when she was confused, or had too many feelings to handle, and there was no piano in sight. She put a hard rock CD in her CD player and hit things. (Well, not _things_, exactly. Air.)

Emily had started taking martial arts lessons from her father when she was three. After her parents died and she took to the streets, she had befriended a local expert, and he had taught her everything he knew. By the time he had died when she was ten, she was a brown belt, but she had then gone to join a free six-month karate class, where she graduated to a black belt (after getting knocked flat on her back several hundred times by people who were all older, stronger, and smarter than she was).

The karate instructor in that class took an assessment of her, and he had concluded that it was the intense anger, sadness, feeling, and passion with which she lived that gave her such power to fight. Luckily, the man never asked to meet her parents, and he never asked where all her anger came from. It had been a long, long time since she had been pushed back to the habit of destruction—not since the day she came to the orphanage the second time.

She had had her share of fights in back alleyways, and she hadn't always come out on top. After sustaining numerous black eyes, three broken bones, a scrape where a bullet grazed her, four sprained ankles, a bruised rib, countless cuts and bruises, and a knife wound that left a scar running from her elbow to the back of her wrist and up into her palm, she had decided that she was never going to be beaten down again, so she either avoided fights she knew would not be good for her, or beat every gang who came after into a pathetic, broken, bloody pulp and left them lying in the alleyway before she hid in the nearest abandoned building to rest while she healed.

She was a karate expert, and she knew some judo and street fighting techniques that she had picked up from a local gang in New York City.

So now, here in her room, she took all of her confusion and poured it into a series of blows and blocks against an invisible opponent. The space in the center of the room was large enough that she didn't have to worry about hitting the furniture, which was fortunate, because she had enough momentum to keep going until Kira and Rei got home.

After her workout, Emily was surprised at how exhausted she was. Her muscles ached, and she was sweating profusely. She hadn't had that much exercise in a long time, and now all she wanted to do was sleep. Sighing, she turned off the music, dropped onto the bed, and closed her eyes. She didn't even bother to change her clothes, and the memory of the earlier events in the evening had evaporated. Her thoughts settled, she let her exhaustion carry her to sleep.

XXX

Rei and Kira came home to find the living room empty. Hard rock music was blaring from Emily's room, filling the entire apartment even though the door was closed. Rei motioned for Kira to go into the living room, which she did, and Rei headed down the hall and hesitantly opened Emily's door.

Emily was just finishing up her workout. He saw enough to tell him that she was very unhappy about something, and that her invisible opponent would be lying in a puddle of blood by now, had he been real. Then she turned off the music, got into bed, and fell asleep without even changing her clothes.

Rei closed the door, troubled by what he had seen, and went to join Kira in the living room. She was waiting for him, with two cups of fresh coffee on the table in front of her. "Hey," she said softly. "What's up? You look worried."

So Rei sat down next to her on the couch, took a drink of his coffee, and told Kira about what he had seen Emily do. "I'm telling you, Kira," he concluded, "she's amazing. I'll bet everything I own that she could knock me into the middle of next week if she got angry enough, and if she caught me by surprise."

"But…she's so _little_," Kira said.

"Little, and angry. About…well, actually I don't know what she's angry about."

"Didn't she just come back from hanging out with Akemi?" Kira asked suddenly, after a moment of silence.

Rei blinked, and a stony expression crossed his face. "You don't think he…_tried something_, do you? Because if he did, I'll _kill_ him and screw whatever the law says."

Kira couldn't help it; she giggled. "Akemi isn't like that. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her, trust me."

Rei sighed. "This parenting thing is hard…. But anyway, we can find out exactly _what_ happened later. Right now I just wanna know where she _learned_ it. I've never seen her act violent at _all_. That was the second-to-last thing I ever would have expected, the first being either Jack the Ripper or the Grim Reaper showing up with a cloak and dagger and asking if he can borrow your copy of 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.'"

Kira laughed at the image, but she was still deep in the depths of surprise bordering on shock that such a small, quiet girl had such a completely different side to her. It would hardly have been more astonishing if Kira had suddenly taken up kickboxing, Harumi converted to a Goth, Tatsuya took up the nightclub life, and Rei announced that he was gay.

Silence reigned in the room for a moment before Rei said quietly, "So what do we do?"

Kira looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Rei sighed. "We have to do something about her. You'd think so too, if you'd seen the expression on her face. She's wild…almost crazy. I have no doubt that if she were in that state of mind with a weapon in her hand, and someone came up behind her, she could put them in the hospital and would do it without thinking twice. But then she stopped all of a sudden, and the second she stopped fighting, the expression was gone, and she looked completely normal again. It was…scary."

"And it takes a lot to scare you."

"Well…yeah. It' kinda shocking, too, ya know? She never seemed like the destructive type…the exact opposite, actually."

Kira had nothing to say to that, so she just asked, "So…what do you _want_ to do?"

"I don't know! I'm new at this!"

"So am I. I guess we should just leave her alone. She won't hurt anything just by working out in her room, I don't think she'd hurt any _people_, anyway."

Rei still looked worried, but he was inclined to agree. "At least, not unless they hurt her first."

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Sorry that chapter took so long to update… I'm trying to write three stories at once, and it's hard. And on top of the three stories I had summer assignments to finish. And for a chapter that took forever to update, it was a really crappy chapter… Also, sorry about skipping a year. I had nothing to fill in a year with and so I just skipped it. Sorry! Hope you guys weren't too disappointed with this chapter. I myself wasn't happy with it, but I don't have the brain power to make it better right now, so I'm gonna post it and try to make the next chapter better than this one was.


	7. Avoidance

You all would be so proud of me….I got my first flame! -beams with pride- Someone flamed my "Fall of a Broken Angel" fic. I knew it had to happen sometime! Please send your congratulations via review!

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**Chapter 7—Avoidance**

Emily thought that Kira and Rei were acting a bit odd the next morning, but she didn't bother trying to find out about it as she ate her way through three stacks of pancakes, two helpings of scrambled eggs, and six strips of bacon, and drank four glasses of orange juice. She's forgotten just how_ hungry_ workouts made her.

It was only as she was on her way to the music hall that she remembered the _reason_ she'd been working out.

_Akemi. Kiss. Run. _That had been her basic thought process when the actual kiss happened. But now that she thought about it, she thought she might have made a mistake. She was only thirteen—fourteen in two weeks—but she thought maybe something could actually be there with her and Akemi, and that thought scared her as much as it delighted her.

Emily did a lot of thinking on her walk to the hall. She needed to get to the music, _quickly_. Last night she had completely lost her temper, something she had _sworn_ she would never do again, and it couldn't happen anymore. So she had to get to the music, because that was the only other way she knew of to keep herself calm.

Upon reaching the building, Emily slid open the door silently. The desk was empty, so she proceeded into the hall and sat down in front of the piano. There was no music on the rack today, but Emily didn't care. She began to play a song from _Les Miserables_, which she'd committed to memory because she loved it so much. She had finished with that song and was halfway through "Think of Me" from the musical _The Phantom of the Opera_ when someone touched her shoulder softly.

For the second time in as many days, Emily knocked over her seat as she jumped up and turned around quickly. As she had expected, Akemi was standing behind her, looking just as nervous as Emily herself felt. She felt herself turning red as they stared at each other, the piano bench forgotten on the floor between them. After several moments, she jumped over the fallen bench and ran for her life.

XXX

Kira sighed as she finished scrubbing off the dishes from breakfast, rubbing the back of her neck as she did. She was tired. There was an exhibit opening up at the gallery tomorrow and she didn't know if everything was ready yet, she hadn't been sleeping well, and her knee ached from extended hours of constant standing on top of bad weather—which she had taken a very long walk in this morning before Rei got up. She was worried about Emily, too—she was _always_ worried about being a good mother and trying to make her daughter happy—and though she tried her best to hide all of this, the stress was starting to wear on her.

Rei, sitting at the table reading the newspaper, heard her sigh. He looked up, frowning, and stood, walking over to the sink. He put his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm?" Kira asked, acting as though she didn't know what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

Rei shrugged. "You just seem sort of…off, lately."

"Just tired, I guess. You know…work…life…you and your constant existence…"

"Well it's good to know I'm loved," Rei said, chuckling and burying his face in her hair, reaching down to take her hand in his. After a moment he pulled away. "So…we should talk about Emily."

"Right," Kira sighed. "Emily."

XXX

It started to rain again as Emily slowly climbed the steps to the door of their apartment building. She made no effort to get out of the rain, though. On the contrary, she sat down on the steps, rested her arms on her knees, and thought. Hard.

One thing was certain. She _liked_ Akemi. A lot. But she was only thirteen years old. Far too young to start a relationship. She's decided on _that_ particular fact a long time ago. But she had also decided something else.

As a young girl—a young orphan who grew up on the streets, Emily had learned what suffering was. She knew loss, pain, and loneliness, and she wasn't eager to repeat any of it. If she started _anything_ with _anyone_, that person had better be ready for something long-term. She wasn't going to let herself be left alone again for a good, long while.

So where did that leave her and Akemi? What did it make them? Awkward acquaintances? Just friends? Kindred spirits? Soul mates? Or something else?

It was all so confusing. She wanted to be closer to Akemi, that much she knew. But just how close was she willing to get? What if she gave him her heart—something that she had always kept firm possession of—and he turned his back on her for someone older, smarter, or just plain prettier? How would their friendship survive something like that?

Age difference was a problem. He was seventeen, and she was only going on fourteen. She didn't want anything having to do with a real relationship until she was at least fifteen, preferably sixteen, if she ever entered into one at all.

And then there was Kira and Rei to consider. If Emily ever decided she wanted to be with Akemi, Kira would probably be shocked—though she would get used to the idea and be fine with it. And Rei….well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Rei would probably skewer poor Akemi where he stood…

Emily sighed as she stood up and headed into the building. Thinking was supposed to _help_ a person sort everything out. But it had just made things more confusing, and now Emily's abandoned-orphan-the-world-can-bite-my-ass self was having a major conflict with her but-all-I-want-is-to-be-a-normal-teenage-girl-again side. And frankly, this was _not_ a war that Emily wanted to fight.

XXX

Emily looked even more serious than usual during the next few days. She avoided the music hall at all costs, but she couldn't stay at home, either, or Akemi would corner her and try to talk to her, and as she didn't know _what_ she was going to say to him when the inevitably met, she stayed away from all the places where he might find her. The result was that she spent many hours wandering around the city, avoiding alleyways as much as possible and not going into any shops or cafés that Akemi had been known to frequent.

Rei and Kira were quick to note this change. After Emily declined Kira's invitation to come to work with her for the third time in a row, Kira did some thinking.

Rei was at the track—he spent far less time than usual there these days, having decided that he needed to spend less time racing and more time at home—and Kira had taken the day off work. The house was silent, Emily having left to go for another walk, and that gave a good, thoughtful atmosphere to the apartment. And at last, after much consideration, Kira came to a decision. Reaching for the phone, she dialed Rei's cell phone number.

XXX

Kira and Rei were waiting for Emily when she returned from her walk. They were both in the living room, and as soon as she entered they motioned for her to sit down. Emily nervously did so, wondering what on Earth was going on.

"Em, what's going on?" Kira asked, once Emily was settled in a chair across from the couch.

Emily blinked, taken aback by the directness of the question. She just looked down and didn't reply.

"C'mon, Em," Rei said. "We know something's going on with you. You've been even more serious than usual lately."

"You've been avoiding the music hall, something you would _never_ do under normal circumstances."

Emily blinked again. _Don't be silly. I'm not_…. She paused. _I'm not avoiding anything._

"Yes you are," Rei said. "You're avoiding…._him_." 

Kira giggled. "_Akemi_. Call him by his _name_, Rei."

Emily felt the corner of her mouth turn up slightly into a tiny half-smile.

"What did he do?" Rei demanded, ignoring Kira and not seeming to notice that Emily was dangerously close to laughing at him.

At his question, however, Emily's face fell once more, and then became an impassive mask. She stares determinedly at her knees.

"Yeah….what _did_ he do?" Kira asked, quite suddenly. "I mean, it must have been something awful, for you to be acting like this."

"Which means I have to kill him," Rei added.

_He didn't do anything_.

Both Kira and Rei blinked as Emily finally replied.

_He did _nothing_ wrong. He just….caught me off guard, is all. _

"By doing _what_?" Rei finally exploded. "Tell us!"

_He_…_kissed me, is all._

Total and utter silence reigned in the room for half a heartbeat. The Rei was on his feet. "He _what_?!"

Kira grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the couch. "Rei, sit _down_. It's taken you two years to get used to being a father, don't blow it by killing your daughter's first boyfriend."

Emily's eyes grew wide. _He's not my boyfriend_. She said it without words, but her eyes spoke volumes. She was _not_ ready to hear the term "boyfriend" used to describe Akemi.

"I'm gonna _kill_ him," Rei was muttering, just loud enough for the other two to hear. "I'm gonna get hold of him and wring his scrawny little neck…"

Emily's eyes widened and she shook her head violently.

"I agree with Emily," Kira said. "Rei, sit. I'm glad you want to be involved in our daughter's life but for God's sake calm down. Emily, what do you want to do? About Akemi?"

No one moved for a minute. Then, as the question registered in Emily's mind, she got up and ran from the room.

Rei and Kira stared after her for a moment.

"I think that went…rather well," Rei commented, after a moment."

XXX

Emily was lying on her bed when Kira entered the room that night. She had been lying there all day, trying to sort out the confused tangle of emotions that was her mind. Kira and Rei had agreed that it was best to leave her alone. But when she hadn't come down for dinner, Emily had made her a plate and brought it up to her.

"Emily?" she asked, quietly.

Emily looked toward the door, and nodded at her mother. Kira came in and closed the door behind her, setting the plate on the night table. "I brought you some food."

Emily sat up, crossed her ankles in front of her, and wrapped her arms around her knees. Kira sat down beside her and smiled. "So….any less confused yet?"

Emily shook her head.

"Just more gloomy?"

Nod.

Kira smiled again and tucked back a strand of hair that had escaped from Emily braid. "I know how that feels. I've gone through many times in my life when I didn't know where to go and who to turn to."

_Really_?

"Oh yeah….you know, the first time Rei started noticing me, I was just as confused and nervous as you are now. Maybe more…"

You couldn't possibly have been more confused than I am.

"Ah….that's where you're wrong." Kira handed Emily the plate and motioned for Emily to eat. "See, when he was in high school, Rei was the baddest bad boy to walk the halls of our school. He was a total player….sleeping around, smoking, getting into all sorts of trouble…and I though that was all there was to him. But then…well, I started liking him. And I was…_so_ confused. Scared, too. I almost felt like…I was doing something wrong."

_Why would you think that_?

Kira leaned back against the wall and thought for a moment. "I…well…I just did, I guess. What you feel is normal, I promise. It's okay to be confused. It's okay to be scared."

_But that's just it. What do I have to be scared of_?

Kira chuckled. "Of…rejection. Of ruining your friendship. Of getting into a relationship before you're ready. Of falling in love with someone who is years older than you. Of finding out you should never be in a long-term relationship in the first place. Everything that you have every right to be scared of." She turned to face Emily, and her face was serious. "Emily, listen to me. I know something awful has happened to you, and I think I know what it is. The same thing happened to me when I was a teenager, and I've learned to recognize it in others. But you_ can't live in fear_. Sooner or later you're going to have to open the door and step out into the sunlight." She brushed a strand of hair back behind Emily's ear. "But make sure Akemi is the one you want to do that for, okay?"

Emily smiled slightly, and nodded.

"Oh, and there's another reason I came up here."

What is it?

"Well…Rei and I were talking about what you want to do for your birthday, and we decided that—if you want to—we can go back to New York for that week."

Emily blinked. _New York?_

Kira nodded. "It seems like you need to…get away for a little while. And I know Ms. Reese would love to see you. So why don't we pay her a visit for your birthday? How does that sound?"

Could we visit the orphanage?

"Of course we could. So you're on board?"

_Of course I am. _

"Good. I'll make the plane reservations tomorrow." Kira stood. "All right, I have a painting I'd like to work on before I go to bed." She was almost out the door when she felt a hand on her arm. Turning, she saw Emily staring at her. Why are you doing this? Kira smiled. "Because….all that was ever missing in my life was a daughter. Now I have one and I don't want to let her go." The two stared at each other for a moment. Then, quite suddenly, Emily threw her arms around Kira and hugged her tightly. Kira smiled and kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Eat," she said, when Emily stepped back. "I'm going to go work." She smiled at her daughter and left the room.

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There it is, guys. Finally. I know it isn't much, but it's there. Now, I'm gonna work really really super extra hard on the next chapter because it's what the entire story has been leading up to, so please be patient while you wait for an update. Please don't forget about me while I'm working on it, okay? I promise, I haven't given up on this story, okay?


	8. Emily

Okay, this story has been on hiatus for, like…well, I last updated in December of last year, and I apologize _profusely_. I have decided to finally pick up the pen….er….keyboard….again, and I know pretty much all of my readers have probably forgotten about it by now, but to those of you who are going to read, I thank you very much. This chapter will be very, very, very uber short—like, three pages of a Word document type _short_—on account of I forgot nearly everything that I was going to put in it, except for the end…. I even forgot how old Emily's gonna be, so let's just say fifteen, 'kay? I can't believe I forgot my own character's age…. ^_^;;;

And I don't own the song "Emily." That is Michael W. Smith's honor, not mine.

Um….other notes…. Rei is sorta out of character in this chapter. This was _planned_, so no reviewing and telling me I suck. Besides, Rei's been out of character for the whole freaking story, so there's no point in telling me now….

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Chapter 8—Emily At a New York City airport…

The airport was crowded, filled with hustle and bustle, people running to catch planes or meet other people, security guards trying to keep order in the mayhem, shouting in countless different languages, and a single, lonely dog barking from its kennel.

"I always hated New York…." Rei muttered, dodging a kid from a Cub Scout group.

Kira laughed. "It's not that different from home, Rei."

Emily smiled slightly as Rei and Kira began to bicker, even as Rei slid his arm around Kira's shoulders and pulled her against his side.

"Where's Ms. Reese?"

"Right behind you," a merry voice said, and Kira jumped about a foot in the air and turned around.

"Ms. Reese!" Kira exclaimed, a welcoming smile on her face. She hugged the tiny woman, grinning from ear to ear. "How are you?"

"Better than some, worse than others, and annoyed with all," Ms. Reese replied, then turned to Emily with a bright smile and enfolded the girl in a hug. She half expected Emily to squirm away or freeze up, but was rewarded with a return embrace instead. Choosing not to voice her surprise, she instead looked around at Rei and hugged him, as well. "Come on, you three. I'll take you to your hotel, and then we can grab some lunch and go back to the orphanage."

XXX

That week was filled with fun for Emily—visiting the orphanage every morning, followed by souvenir shopping and then dinner at one restaurant or another. She had no time to think of Akemi during the busy days, but at night… Night was the time when all of Emily's reservations and wishes for romance caught up to her. She was only fifteen to Akemi's eighteen years, and yet…

At that point in the thought process, Emily would always force her mind to close to that particular subject and ended up drifting off to sleep thinking about everything _but_ Akemi.

XXX

On their last night in New York, the adults took Emily to a small bar that was having a minors' night. Alcohol wasn't being served and had been replaced with lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate, and the like. A band had been hired for the night and was said to know any song you could name. This having been established, Rei was rather eager to set his birthday plans for Emily in motion.

The night started off with dinner. For a bar, the food was actually quite delicious. A little on the greasy side, perhaps, but Emily had always lived for greasy food. It was her one major weakness. That, and her inability to trust people, to open up. Truth be told, she sometimes didn't know which made her weaker.

After they'd eaten, they all headed for an empty billiard table, and all began challenging each other. Emily played Rei and lost, spectacularly, and Rei ended up creaming Kira. Ms. Reese played Kira and won by a margin, then lost to Emily, before Rei challenged Ms. Reese and claimed victory for himself, and by the time the two hour mark passed, they were all hailing the Japanese man as the superior god of billiards. The same thing happened in pinball and darts, and they all finally just lost patience with Rei's winning streak and left him standing alone next to the dartboard, with a handful of darts and a very stupid expression.

The games were followed by more food, a cake that Rei ran next door to the bakery to pick up, and present opening. The presents were accompanied and followed by yet more food, and Emily began to wonder if their objective wasn't to kill her through an overdose of salt and grease.

Then, just before they got ready to leave to go back to the hotel, the last surprise of the evening came.

Rei had left the table a few minutes before, with a vague explanation about how he'd seen someone he thought he recognized, and returned to the table with a mysterious smile on his face. Kira gave him a questioning look, but he just shook his head at her and turned to look at the small stage where the band was positioned. The others followed his cue, Emily remaining sitting as she did so.

A moment later, the lead singer of the band spoke into the microphone. "Excuse me. If I could have your attention for just a few short minutes, please?"

The bar gradually fell silent as the rest of its inhabitants turned their attention to the stage.

"Thank you. Now, it seems we have a birthday girl in here tonight that I'm just finding out about. Emily Kashino? Can you raise your hand?"

At this, Emily shrunk in her chair. Nevertheless, she was spotted, and the man smiled at her.

"There she is. Everyone, she's sitting at the table in the corner, right behind the monstrously tall blond guy."

There was a collective laugh from the crowd in the bar, and one man shouted from somewhere, "Happy birthday, kiddo!"

Emily bristled. She _hated_ being called "kiddo."

"Well, anyway, Emily's father came to me with a special request for his daughter's birthday. Some of you know him as Rei Kashino, famous Japanese racing champion, and I'm sure more than a few of you know of his wife, the talented Japanese artist, Kira Kashino." 

The resemblance between Kira and Emily was uncanny as she, too, attempted to shrink.

"Well, while you're all watching the tiny girls get smaller, I want you to listen to this song that Mr. Kashino requested in honor of his daughter's birthday. Few of you have probably heard it, but it's a well-loved favorite among this band, luckily for Mr. Kashino and his birthday girl. So, without further ado…."

When the music started, Emily sat up a little straighter, but not enough to be easily noticed, and listened.

**Caught, in an endless time  
Waiting for a sign  
To show you where to go  
Lost, in a silent stare  
Looking anywhere  
For answers you don't know**

Emily blinked, and straightened a little more.__

_**On the wire  
Balancing your dreams  
Hoping ends will meet their means  
You feel alone  
Uninspired  
Well does it help you to  
Know that I believe in you  
You're an angel waiting for wings...**_

**Emily  
**

A scratchy feeling started in Emily's throat, as she leaned forward to rest her head on the table and continued to listen to the music, enraptured with the sounds of the instruments combining with the singer's melodious voice.

**You, going through this stage  
It's a restless age  
Young and insecure  
Sill, there are doubts to fade  
Moments to be made  
And one of them is yours  
**

A lump formed in Emily's throat now, and she blinked back tears. The chorus played again, and a single tear fell. Rei was carefully avoiding looking at anyone and had moved closer to the door. None of the others noticed, though. Emily was too busy contending with her own emotions, and Kira and Ms. Reese seemed caught up in the moment, as well.

_**On the wire  
Balancing your dreams  
Hoping ends will meet their means  
But you feel alone  
Uninspired  
Oh does it help you to  
Know that I believe in you  
You're an angel waiting for wings  
Oh, you're an angel waiting for wings...**_

Emily

As the music faded into silence, Rei turned quickly to make for the exit. Displays of emotion towards anyone but Kira has always made him uncomfortable, and not only had this particular display _not_ been toward Kira, but in the middle of a crowded bar, as well. These facts combined together made Rei very eager to leave, and he had almost made it to the door when the slightest movement and a collective breath from the crowd caused him to turn around.

The entire bar had their eyes on him. Kira and Ms. Reese had remained back at the table, but their eyes were fixed on Rei, as well. There was someone missing from their party, however, and Rei realized that Emily was standing right in front of him. He met her eyes, and tried to assess what he saw there. Anger? Worry? Depression? Fear? …No…no, those weren't right. It was something much deeper and more meaningful.

Then her mouth opened. It closed, then opened again. This was repeated several times. The magnitude of the next event was lost on most of the bar, but not to Rei. A voice, gentle and soft and sounding as if it was protesting its sudden return to use, issued forth, and Rei's heart felt like it would burst.

"Daddy…"


	9. Insight

Oh my, I am _so_ sorry I haven't been around, guys, especially on this story! I lost my touch for _Mars_ fanfiction, it seems, and I'm afraid I've lost all of my reviewers…. I have a reason, though! I've been long debating just ending the story where I left off in chapter eight, but I'm finally writing another chapter and an epilogue to sort of explain everything that's been going on and close things out good and proper. I was originally planning to do that in a sequel, but I have completely lost my touch for _Mars_ fanfics, as previously stated…

Okay, so now, for the final chapter of this story! It'll be very short and probably not worth the wait, but it will be _done_!

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**Chapter 9—Insight**

Rei smiled and pulled Kira into a long, slow kiss, and she leaned into it, seeking the comfort her husband never failed to bring. Her leg was beginning to cause her more pain than she would admit, and on top of the physical discomfort, the last several days had been an emotional rollercoaster for her.

When they finally pulled apart, Rei looked over at Emily, who was standing off to the side, away from the airport terminal, saying goodbye to Ms. Reese. He smiled, and his arm squeezed Kira's waist. "We did it."

Kira smiled happily. "Yeah, we did."

Rei looked down at her, and there was something in his eyes that even his wife rarely got to see. "I love you."

The only reply he got was a huge smile and another kiss.

"Come on, Emily, before we miss our flight!" Rei bellowed suddenly, pulling away from Kira and leaving her kissing the air. She just smiled good naturedly, however, and pulled away from him to pick up their bags.

Emily nodded over at them, and gave Ms. Reese a hug. Then the two came over to Kira and Rei, and Ms. Reese said, "So….I guess this is goodbye."

"Not forever, I hope," Kira said, leaning over to give her new(ish) friend a gentle hug. "Thank you….for everything."

"I did nothing at all, dear," the woman replied.

"Of course you did," Kira replied, her voice ringing with sincerity. "You gave us a daughter."

"Nonsense," Ms. Reese replied, looking down at the floor for a moment before shaking Rei's hand with a surprisingly strong grip. "Now, you all should go on before you miss your flight."

"Right," Rei replied, taking the bags from Kira. "Goodbye, Ms. Reese." And with that, he headed into the terminal. Rei was never one for long, tearful goodbyes.

"Come visit anytime," Kira replied. "We'll pay for the ticket and whatever else you need us to pay for."

"I'd love to, Kira, but…." Ms. Reese smiled sadly. "….I couldn't leave my kids for that long. You know that."

"I know," Kira replied, smiling back. "But I had to try."

"You come visit me, though. Anytime you want."

"You know we will," Kira replied, then touched Emily on the shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Emily replied, shouldering her small duffel bag. Kira nodded and followed Rei's path, not expecting anything else. Emily was still a quiet person by nature, and it was doubtful that that would ever change.

"Emily…." Ms. Reese said suddenly, as the girl turned towards the terminal. Emily turned slightly to look at her. "Will you ever….tell me what happened to you?"

Emily blinked, and stood there for a long moment, before turning and walking towards the terminal again. She stopped, however, and blinked back tears. This was more painful than she'd expected it to be. After another long pause, she dropped her bags to the ground, turned quickly, and bolted into Ms. Reese's arms. "Soon, okay?" she said softly. "You've been wonderful to me, and you deserve everything I can give you and more, but….there's someone else who needs to know first."

Ms. Reese sighed. "I suppose I understand, sweetheart." But she sounded reluctant to accept the reply. "When you're ready, all right?"

Emily nodded. "I promise."

XXX

The next day, Emily stood outside Akemi's apartment, playing nervously with the end of her braid and biting her lip. Shifting from foot to foot, she finally got up the courage to raise her hand and knock softly, and Akemi answered the door a few minutes later.

"….Emily. What are you—?"

That was all he got out before he was cut off by Emily throwing herself at him. The momentum forced him back against the wall in his apartment as she kissed him, and he kicked the door shut. Every coherent thought he had had been forced out of his head as his eyes fluttered shut and he kissed her back.

"I'm sorry," Emily apologized breathlessly, pulling away.

Akemi could not have been more surprised if a massive baboon in heels had leapt out of the hall closet and held them at banana-point. "….You just…."

Emily ignored him. "I'm sorry for everything. I was toying with you. I didn't mean to do it, but…well, I am an idiot. And I'm a jerk. And….I'm sorry," she finished lamely.

Akemi just stood there, dazed. "You're…."

"Um…yeah. I am, huh?"

"I, uh….you're…." He raised his hand slowly and stroked Emily's hair. "God, you've got a gorgeous voice."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Try again."

"Um….when did this happen?"

"Another story for another time. Right now….I need you to come home with me."

"….Why?"

"Because I….have something to tell you. And I need Rei and Kira to be there when I do."

XXX

"You really don't have to tell us this if you don't want to," Kira said softly, handing Emily a mug of hot chocolate and sitting down in Rei's lap in the armchair, her own mug steaming in her hands.

"I know," Emily replied. "But….I owe you that much, at the very least." She sighed and stared down at the mug, her stomach churning. She couldn't decide if she should hide in Akemi's arms for the duration of the drama's unfolding, or curl up on the opposite side of the couch. Maybe she should fly back to America, call Rei, have him put her on speaker, and just tell the story from there. Finally, though, she gathered her courage and began. "I know Ms. Reese told you….where she found me the second time. And about my parents. But she has no idea what happened between the time I left the orphanage the first time, and the time I came back."

"No….she doesn't," Kira replied quietly.

"Well, uh….there's a good reason I didn't tell her." She gathered herself and took a sip of her cocoa. "See, after my parents died, I swore I wouldn't go to an orphanage. Ms. Reese was nice, but I didn't trust her. Everything that had happened to my parents was just so new….and I was so scared. So I bolted, because I was stupid—I still am—and it was the only thing I could think to do. I lived on the streets and in a karate studio I'd found every time I got the chance, but then I met a girl….named Maria. And Maria was….the best thing that had happed to me in ages. Her mom taught me a lot and I spent every day at their apartment. I still spent the nights on the streets, but….I had more of a home than I'd had in a really long time. I was….happy. Well, as happy as I could have been at that point."

Emily faltered to a halt, and then she set her mug on the table next to the couch, stood, and walked over to stare out the window. Folding her arms, she shivered in spite of the room's warmth. "One night, Maria and I were….in this alley near her house. I don't remember why we chose that spot….I think it was my idea. But we were playing there and this….guy came up. He was….huge, and mean-looking. And….God, I'll never forget the way he looked at us."

Kira's heart froze. _Oh, no_….

"He, uh….killed Maria. Just pulled a gun and shot her, without so much as a word. It was quick and I don't think she felt much pain, and to this day….I'm _so_ grateful that he killed her. Because….what he did to _me_….I wouldn't wish that on anybody." She raised her hand to wipe the tears off of her cheek. "Maria was my best friend. And he took her away. And then he took away everything that made me…._me_. I had nothing left. Friendship, happiness, hope, pride….innocence….he took it all." She bit her lip. "And he's _still out there_. Because _I_ was too scared to tell anyone anything. And now if he kills, or….hurts….anyone else—"

Emily was stopped by a soft hand on her arm. Too soft to be masculine….

"Emily," Kira said softly, reaching down to take Emily's hand in both of hers. "Listen to me. I know how you feel."

Emily felt an unexplainable anger bubble in her stomach. "No, you—"

"I _do_. Because it happened to me, too. My….stepfather. He was the one….who…." She stopped. "I still haven't forgiven him. And….I still have nightmares about it." She sighed, and turned Emily gently to face her. "I wish I could tell you that it stops. That finding people to love you just….magically cures it. But it doesn't stop. It doesn't go away. And you'll have to live with it for the rest of your life. It's….like a scar. An old war wound, whatever you want to call it. But….it _does_ become an easier burden to carry. And I want to help you carry it. If….you'll let me."

"So do I," Rei spoke up without hesitation.

Akemi, however, didn't say anything. He didn't know what _to_ say.

Emily's eyes were shining with unshed tears, tears that she didn't dare let out and _hadn't_ dared let out in many years.

"Cry, Em," Kira said quietly. "Just….cry."

And from the moment the first tear fell, their lives changed….for better, for worse, forever.

Nothing could possibly break the four of them apart now.

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Okay. Done. Finished. No more chapters, but there might be an epilogue.

….Is there even anyone _left_ out there?

Anyway! WOOHOO!!! It's done! I seriously didn't think this day would ever come….XD

Okay, now to get working on the _Fake_ fanfics and the crossover…. Blah….no rest for the wicked….


	10. Epilogue

Okay, I started this story when I was fourteen.

I celebrated my eighteenth birthday three months ago.

What does that tell you people?

But hey, let it henceforth be known that I leave _nothing_ unfinished. …Everyone has forgotten that this story exists, but it's _done_. So HA! –triumph–

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**Epilogue**

They had done it.

The journey had been long, frustrating, and damn near impossible to survive at times, and it was still going on. But for all intents and purpose, the mission had been a success, and proof of that lay in Rei, Kira, and Akemi's presence at Emily's high school graduation.

Emily was valedictorian, of course—no surprise there. The surprise was that she showed next to no fear in giving a public speech. Her quiet days were not over; she still preferred to play her piano rather than talk to anyone. But that didn't mean she was afraid to speak anymore.

So she spoke, and they listened.

And few forgot what they heard.

"Family, friends, faculty, and fellow students, welcome. It is an honor to stand in front of all of you today. This day marks the end of one life and the beginning of many more, and as I stand before you today, I look back at my life with a mixture of regret, anger, sadness, and strangely enough, joy.

"All my life, I have immersed myself in a magical world, untainted by human population. It is a world of music, where everything is peaceful and my destiny is of my own choosing. I had always believed that such a place could exist only in the deepest realms of my imagination, but then three new people came into my life, and that imaginary world became the ultimate and perfect reality that I now live in.

"To truly understand how blessed I am, you must first know what my past life has been like. To give you a full account would take more time than myself and the rest of you have, so I will say only that from the time I was five to the time I was twelve, I lived a life that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I even considered suicide for a time. In fact, I was still considering it when Rei and Kira Kashino came to the orphanage where I was living. I went home with them a month after they came, and I have never once regretted it.

"My years with the Kashinos have been the best of my life since my parents died. I really can't remember ever being happier. And things only got better when I met a certain special someone." Here, Emily paused to catch Akemi's eye for a moment before continuing. "He was the first person ever to fall in love with me, no strings attached. And between the three of them, I finally managed to take a turn in the right direction.

"You're probably all wondering why I have turned this speech into 'My Life in a Nutshell' instead of the standard welcome-thank-you-for-coming-I'm-sorry-to-see-high-school-go-I'm-off-to-college-I-hope-to-keep-in-touch-with-my-fellow-students-thank-you-goodbye-have-a-nice-life speech that the valedictorian usually gives. The only explanation I can give is this: The three people I have mentioned are kind, gentle, caring, generous, unfailingly honest people who took me into their lives without question and treated me as though I belonged with them and always had. I wanted them to be recognized for that. They deserve it, and so, so much more than I or anybody else can give them.

"I know I am going to miss my years as a teenage schoolgirl. But that part of my life is over. That chapter is finished, and as far as I'm concerned, things can only get better from here. I have traveled a long and difficult road, and along the way I met people who shaped my life into something I never could have imagined, in ways I never could have imagined. As I look back at the memories, I realize that as bad as things get, they could always be worse. My short but sobering life truly proves that there _is_ a truth to that proverb, 'Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open.'

"And now, as I prepare to accept my diploma and leave this part of my life behind, I would like to leave you all with a bit of advice. Count your blessings, not your curses. Curses amount to nothing, but blessings make all the difference in the world.

"I'm living proof of that."


End file.
